Most of you know this routine I go through in order to see my daughter, here in Southern California; for those that don't, here is the run down. She lives in the Tampa area and I must fly to get her and then fly her back to my house for my visit. I then fly her back in much the same way but just inversly so. This is my itinerary each time I pick her up and each time I drop her off (which always breaks my heart):

I fly into Tampa and normally it is a long adventure due to the time change and the inevitable lay over in Atlanta. This time I depart at noon P.S.T. tomorrow (Friday the 18th) and arrive in Tampa, via the ATL, at 9:45 pm E.S.T. I then sit in the airport and drink coffee at the Burger King where the ‘one armed guy’ works. He is a good guy who lives with his mom in a trailer near the airport. We have many laughs as I refill my coffee all night. At five am E.S.T. my daughter will be dropped off so we can make a six am flight out of Tampa and be bound for John Wayne/Orange County airport (yes, there is a huge bronze statue of John Wayne in the lobby). We arrive home at approximately 11 am P.S.T. Then it is the first day of the visit adventure with my six year old ‘hambone’.

On the flip side, I do the same thing when I bring her home except it is much more heart-string-wrenching as opposed to excitement filled and jammed full of anticipatory joy. It is much more of a train-wreck event on the return.

It is far more time consuming this time as I am working third shift. I have been up since 3 this afternoon as I could not sleep and I want the house to be perfect for my daughter. I have been cleaning all afternoon. I have to go to work in about an hour and I will not be back home until 6 am. After a morning shower, it is right off to the airport.

Do the math.

I will be up for almost 60 hours, the tail end of which will require my attendance, obedience, and affection.

All of that time spent in order to get my kiddo for almost two weeks: priceless!

However, I tend to think the journey to get there will be riddled with many a surreal turn of events.

This will be my soundtrack:

I shall be around all week at night and in the morning while the kiddo rests. I will be back on as early as Sunday.

I have some posts planned, posts planned indeed.

If you happen to be in Tampa airport tomorrow night, stop by and have a cup 'o' joe and make the music stop ...

A little history-through-association lesson. California. What does that image conjure up for you? What does that image say to you about this place? What do you really think of it? If you have lived here before, what did you think of it then versus now; has your opinion changed (much more, less, or the same)?

I have lived out here on and off since the Spring of 1987. I have gone through many phases since then. Many different ages and many different reasons for liking or disliking the state. When I was a teenager, I was very idealistic; I thought I was going to change the …blah … blah … blah. This is what I thought:

Scary right? I am scared now just thinking about it. To save the world by screaming ‘FASCIST’ loud enough from the tallest buildings and highest rooftops!?!?!?!?! What was I thinking?!?!?!?!? After high school and a year of college, I came back out to California and was having a grand time ‘taking a year off’. As a matter of fact, I took the year off from most everything; I kind of dropped out and I dug every moment of it. This is what moved me then:

Simple right? In the sunshine. So much to do, so much to see, so many damn people to meet. Changing the world, one drop-out at a time. I loved it. But when I moved back to the Boston area in February 1995, I kind of wished that I hadn’t wasted so much friggin’ time. I was fed up with it all and I watched too many people destroy themselves from top to bottom, inside and out. I was over it. I had enough of it all. An anthem to be ‘done’ with California:

And that was what I felt like as I fled back to my New England refuge. I was on fire running for a bus; (the Greyhound took just over three days and this was my second time making the journey in this fashion). I hid out and stayed with no California contact for almost 5 years. It was amazing. Never that L.A. smell in my throat. None of that damned traffic. No June-gloom (mornings in June usually categorized by over cast skies till between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.).

One more year at University in Amherst. No more longing for trees in my Boston home; I was there. I had my season changes, my rocky coastline, my amazing food, my home. And then I had a breakdown and found myself in the home of breakdowns, Orange County California, once again and once again with theme music as I (again) left the society-scene:

And here, in Orange County, I still find myself, but without the discontent and disconnect. I am more apathetic than I have been in the past. It is what it is. It will always be changing away from me here. I will never quite click with this season-less swirl of red lights and people of passing. I think back to all of the days with that New England-fresh-air stuck in my nostrils even when going through Boston, which smells; it is like something is different inside you. It is much easier to go with the flow and wonder if my friends from back home wonder to question me this:

Moving on, into bed-time mode; my vacation is here in four days and I will get my daughter on Saturday. I am very excited and singing songs of California, as I stop the 'type' and walk away.

I hope this was even shorter and better than before.

The next post could be long, so I tied this one up tight and pretty and even curled a ribbon for you.

Wasn’t it pretty?

~ ... (the songs weren't half bad either, huh?) ...

I know all of these comedy posts have been far too long, so this post will be short and will finish up the big comedy explosion. I was actually searching for a song by M.O.D. (Methods Of Destruction - the spin-off band of S.O.D., the first incarnation of Anthrax) called ‘Short But Sweet …’ in order to pacify all of those in need of something that that title would imply, but I could not find it. Cest la vie, la vie, la vie.

I ended up finding an update to something that I had posted over at ‘young broke and republican’ that a lot of people enjoyed very much and I have been waiting for a follow up to. The follow up that I found is not a full blown skit but it is a tasty tid-bit that was put out to tide everyone over as they are discussing making it a real programme.

When I search YouTube for morsels, I end up going on tangential adventures that lead me to unexpected places and normally I have a pretty fun time over there. Here are examples of the fun that I have found. This clip presents an adventure that no one should go on, but it rings true. No animals were hurt in the filming of this clip and, please remember, drugs are bad:

Yes, that's right, a crystal adventure. Are you creeped out or are you laughing? If you can tell me where the melody to this song is from, please do as it would be greatly appreciated. Here is another surreal attempt at meth humour. A very serious problem in this country, but at times you must laugh at the absurd in order to understand and come to terms with something of apocalyptic proportions:

Yep, that about sums that up.

Did you ever wonder what happened to the Pringles guy? I mean, where he came from, what he does in his free time when he is not on the canister, and how he really feels about snack foods? Here is another addition to this online comedy collection:

This leads us to the one comedy company that is bound to go somewhere as it is very professional, in L.A., and already has many connections in the entertainment industry. Greg Benson is one of the new comedy geniuses. Here is his one of his takes on God:

Highway to Hell indeed! Sucks to spawn the wrath of the big guy doesn’t it? Even if it is ‘just’ traffic (traffic is a big problem out here - just ask Whit, he knows). A couple of clips on dating will offer us a great segue to the finale and let us laugh while we get there. Ever thought about how you would eat if you were jobless and moneyless? This clip shows us just how it is done:

Uh huh, ‘vagina’ as an adjective. Now that is funny stuff! Don’t PM or e-mail me with some sort of feminist outrage, it is funny and if you don’t get it, get over it. 'Dating take two' features so many jokes and absurdities that showing it is the only way to revel in it. Have you ever been on a blind date? I have not, but I think if I did have to go on one it would go an awful lot like this:

These are productions of Mediocre Films and you need to keep an eye on this company and Greg as they really are coming up and getting the T.V. deals they so justly deserve! I am quite sure that you also recognized the waitress in this skit as ‘Kiko’ the lovely Asian woman from ‘Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show’. She is Greg Benson’s wife and she is in the process of talks to get GTCMS on big network television, this is why part two of their Asian T.V./Pee-Wee’s Playhouse spoof has not been posted this month as promised. They did, however, offer us this little ditty to quell our hunger until they can get it up and make us laugh. Here is the moment you have all been waiting for; the new video for the GTCMS song ‘Juicy’:

Are you all as ecstatic as I am about the new song? Well, maybe it is just me; alone in my humuor cess pool, laughing at women in pink ballerina outfits singing songs about being juicy inside. Yep, it is just me.

I am working on two other posts that should be up in the next week and I will offer you a few hints to the content now. The first will be a post of clips from two men who we ALL know that have a show currently on Showtime. One of their voices is featured in a clip from the last post of American humour. The voice featured is a man who holds pretty much the identical political beliefs as I do but is far more widely accepted for them due to his amazing career in entertainment. The post that will follow that (as long as all goes as planned, seeing as I am on vacation the end of next week and will be spending numerous days with my darling little Kiddo who is now six and very, very precocious), is going to be dedicated to Adam Warlock of ‘What Would You Still Do?’ and a few other blogs that I have been reading for along time. Being white guys that people would not peg for liking some of the things that we enjoy is going to be the premise of the post. How two ‘comic book geeks’ ended up shaking booties is beyond all comprehension, but we both shake our rumps with glee.

I sure hope this was short enough, as I found it to be quickly put together and it allowed me much more time to sit in front of the screen and hit 'refresh' to see who is currently updated on the BS front page. Yes, that is how I spend my weekends - glued to the keyboard waiting for the next blog to go up so I can read and maybe even comment.

I am writing a lot these days and have experienced a re-birth of enthusiasm regarding trying to get published. I think I have a good shot at getting my most recent piece of short story fiction (posted on ‘young broke and republican’) published in some sort of national periodical. I hope you can all get over to read it and wish me some luck. Also, any criticism or compliments are more than welcome!

I hope we are all behaving in our 50,000 person micro-community and that we are ALL trying to get along. If not, I suggest watching some comedy and realizing that life is too short, and far too absurd, to take so damn seriously. In the end, it can only give you heart burn, raise your blood pressure, and ,of course, make it uncomfortable to sit for prolonged periods of time.

Until the next post of not-so-long stature, I say to you all, ‘Godspeed’ …

It’s 'really long post time' again as I feel compelled to answer my previous post of British comedies with an American version. I must preface this with the disclaimer that I think Family Guy and American Dad showcase the BEST humour airing on American television today, but much like me not presenting, and representing, Monty Python or Sesame Street I am not going to walk that path but rather show some of my other favorites and no, there will be no South Park or The Simpsons - sorry! As with the previous post we will get right into it with some theme music; Maestro:

Yes, yes, yes, it is Andy Milonakis. The little boy-man who devilishly combines outrageous practical jokes with an uncanny interpretation of the adolescent boy’s mind. There are many, many Andy episodes that I find humorous but could not find on YouTube. I have recorded most of them onto VHS but I have not yet taken my new hobby of video clip collage-ing so serious that I have hooked up a VCR to the computer yet, and I probably won’t. Here is one of the great skits featuring his bizarre elderly neighbor who is acting even younger than Andy does most of the time:

Makes you thirsty and in need of energy, does it not? Well, here is another example of Andy taking a typical theme and running with it 'Milonakis Style'. Remember kiddos, don’t play with strange animals and always get your pet spayed or neutered:

Yes, that was really John Stamos, THE John Stamos. I find it funny because I often pictured Stamos has having rabbis long before I ever saw this skit. Maybe I am the man-boy! Here is Milonakis going wild in the streets and doing what he does best; catching people off guard and doing so with an amazing sense of impromptu comedy. Watch and learn:

I love when the old man responds to him that he has no soul too! Does it get any better than that? Come on, it certainly does not! Ok. One more from Andy and we will shuffle-on-shoe-shine down the road. This is a collage of clips from the show that really highlight how stupid, yet funny, Andy Milonakis can be:

Now that you have tasted some ‘Dirt Lamb’, received a ‘Happy Balloon’ and were protected from couch monsters, we will take you to something a bit older that everyone may have forgotten about and then work our way back up to the present day. This next show is very hard to find any clips of. I searched and searched and searched and only found two (and one really isn’t a clip but more of a collection). The show was ‘Exit 57’ and was on Comedy Central right around 1994. I will show the ‘collection’ first. It is a series of commercial clips that the cast did for the premiere. Watch closely to who the actors are and to the set of clips at the end that take place on the boat:

Indeed, that was Stephen Colbert - THE Stephen Colbert (and yes, I have grown partial to writing ‘THE’ in big capitol letters when typing someone’s name as I hope someday I will be so infamous or famous that some one will actually write or say 'THE R.E. Knowlton III' - as if that will ever happen!). Stephen Colbert’s big sketch comedy debut. This show is where the Colbert/Sedaris collaboration for ‘Stranger’s With Candy’ came from. I must say that I was not a big fan of that programme but I did find this one hysterical. The show also featured guest skits with Laura Kightlinger. Here is the one clip I found and I know that the Stephen Colbert fans out there will love this. Andale muchachos:

On to number three of six; yes, six - just like in the last post silly - how should one counter a post without addressing all previous points?!?!?!? During this same time period there were two seasons of a show on MTV that has spawned many, many, actors and comedians that we all know now. Three of them found their way to making ‘Reno 911’ on Comedy Central and one, Ian Michael Black, even appears as a regular on the commercials for Sierra Mist (along with Tracy Morgan and Debra Wilson) as well as appearing on E! for those celebu-thon commentary shows. This was the show known as ‘The State’:

Ahhh, to go back in time and enjoy a little monkey torture. I mean, who doesn’t like monkey torture? Like Thomas Lennon says, “All you need is a monkey and start torturing the living hell out of it”. Yes, I think that is a good idea in the name of comedy. Here is another skit featuring the same two men as Barry and Levon. It is most certainly pudding time children:

Along with monkey torture, who on Earth is going to turn down rubbing their ass in pudding? I certainly wouldn’t, would you? Think harder and really get in touch with your inner-self. Now answer; would you really turn down rubbing pudding on your ass? Ok. Maybe some of you would. For anyone who is hurt by doing so, you should call Don Law - he’s a lawyer:

I know the footage was a bit grainy but each and every line in this skit should be like savoring an aged wine that you repeatedly keep shooting out your nose because this is so damn funny. This is what great comedy is all about. Let’s watch one of the ludicrous skits that feature not only music and stereotype but also a pleasant end-twist. Enjoy:

Offensive? Grow thicker skin. Please grow thicker skin for the rest of us and our freedoms, as this shouldn’t offend anyone but rather make one laugh and laugh hard. If you were offended, I suggest you contact Don Law - he’s a lawyer - and he can probably pretend to be your therapist for an afternoon in order to calm you down. So, we move on and do so in swift time. See, it’s not so bad, we are already through half of the clips and I bet you are enjoying yourself! If you are not than you probably shouldn’t have continued beyond the first paragraph, now should you have? If you are having a bad time and have arrived here and are still reading I suggest some therapy time with Don Law again.

This following series is an animated one that was by far the most funny thing going on in the mid-nineties appearing in cartoon form. It was kicked around the major networks for three seasons and even Fox had to give up on it at one point because it poked so much fun at Hollywood. Ladies and Gentlemen, ‘The Critic’:

At times, I was reminded of myself while watching Jay - outspoken and self-conscious, talented and scared. Jon Lovitz is a genius and I wish he would do more. His work is impeccable and it is sad to see him these days on SubWay commercials. Every episode started out with that fabulous theme music and I can never place where it is from, so if anyone can tell me please do. Also, the phone call in the beginning changes every episode. I love it, love it, love it. Here is the next clip, which is an episode after leaving ABC and going to Fox - listen to the jab at ABC right around the five minute mark. Also, recognize that Alice’s voice is played by Park Overall who played the nurse across from Richard Mulligan in ‘Empty Nest’ (which also featured Kristy McNichol). This episode is one of my favourites:

I love when Forrest Gump visits with Bill Clinton and shortly after that, Jay’s tummy is heard talking in the voice of the Lion from the ‘Wizard of Oz’! As I went through all the clips of ‘The Critic’ I kept laughing and laughing. I couldn’t stop, there are so many jokes - ‘my Dixie riddle cup’ - I mean who the hell is that clever these days? I could not find my very favourite two episodes but I did find two shorties from one of them. Here is a fine example of Jay’s parents who are hysterical:

Yes, that’s right penguins don’t fly. Genius! This previous clip and the next one are from the episode where Jay’s parents end up deserted on an island and train a monkey (who secretly wants to eat them) to be their butler. I love the Vasser-class that his snooty mom shows and the Howell-esque aspects of dad. A great parody of the rich! Here is their 'living will' from the same episode:

One more thing to note about ‘The Critic’ is that I constantly refer to Jimmy Breslin over at my original blog ‘young broke and republican’ and it is because of this show. There is an episode, I could not find, that features Jimmy Breslin as the journalism teacher at the private 'Kids of the UN' school that Jay’s son attends. During that episode Breslin is attacked by bunnies and shouts out his alliterated headline, “Bunnies Bite Breslin, Breslin Bites Back”. Gotta love alliteration. Only two to go!

If you made it this far you are probably wondering if I am mad. At least the next two clips are from recent shows and that may be a consolation for the readers that made it this far via my insanity. I will start with the still running programme of the final two and save the best for last (which is sadly not running anymore accept for in re-runs on G4 Tech TV - yes, a hint for all of you patient people who have yet to scroll all the way down to the bottom to see if it truly is worth your precious time to actually sit through the whole damn thing!). I am sure most of you know this show and know of the premise but if you don’t here is the opening to it which explains the concept:

‘My Name Is Earl’ is a great show, not to mention that it uses my middle name in the title and well, you don’t hear it too often anymore unless you are watching Jeff Foxworthy’s stand-up. Now I will take us to two clips of the character ironically named Joy. Joy is Earl’s ex-wife and she is played by Jamie Pressly. I went to high school with Jaime and she was doing modeling back then. She was always missing school for some sort of ‘photo’ op and as time went on we hardly saw her. Here she is acting 'normal' and as white trash as ever:

She ends up on ‘happy meds’ in this next one but you get to see a very scary side of her character none-the-less. She is a very talented woman and it was a pleasure to have known her when we were young. A good friend of mine’s sister was really close to her and he has a few whoppers to share about her that I will not convey on these pages. I will tell you though that she was quite a fun girl and always knew she was going to go places (I do not intend for that to sound sexual in nature at all, please read the previous sentence seriously and reserve your perversions or assumptions for another time - I am being literal not using innuendo!). Is that conceit, arrogance, confidence or assertion? None of the above. It is talent:

To highlight it all together, and to actually show other characters from the show, I have found and chosen this clip that puts it all in one pie, so to speak. I love the actor who plays Earl’s brother. His name is Ethan Suplee and you are sure to recognize him from many, many movies. A majority of you will know him from most of the Kevin Smith 'collection', but I always recall his role in the film ‘American History X’ where he sings a horribly racist version of the ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’ - his sung version is even on the soundtrack; it is frightening. Here is Ethan as Earl’s brother talking about his McNugget choice and asking the timeless question, “Will you be my ‘anyone but Earl’?”:

I have saved the best sitcom for last. It is no longer running. It lists Ron Howard amongst it’s executive producers. It has had guest appearances from James Lipton, Charlize Theron, and Ed Begley Jr. The programme’s regular cast is flecked and sparkled with some of the best talent around. Jeffrey Tambor even has two roles! This is ‘Arrested Development’:

It takes place right where I went to high school and close to where I now live, Newport Beach. Many scenes of the show are filmed at the Balboa Fun Zone (where the Bluth’s have their Banana Stand - sidebar: it is also where INXS filmed their ‘Devil Inside’ video). Many, many tongue in cheek comments are abound in this superbly well written show. Not only are the concepts and plots innovative but the actual writing is out of this world. I mean who would come up with the fund for 'TBA'?!?!?!?

Have you got it yet? ‘Arrested Development’ - they run a development company and the father is arrested; also the twist of the children being so dysfunctional that they are experiencing 'arrested development'. This is the episode ‘Bringing Up Buster’ and it features this latter play on words better than most episodes:

There is another episode where Buster thinks he has fled to Mexico in order to go AWOL from the army and really ends up in Santa Ana and getting bused to the Balboa Bay Club with the ILLEGALS to wash dishes for the day; unfortunately I could not find that clip. By the way, what did you think of the ‘laughing and riding and corn-holing’ comment that the mother makes? A great example of this sort of blue humour, that the characters seems oblivious to, would be made by David Cross’ character Tobias Funke (pronounced Foonk not Funky or Funk). One thing to note through all of this is that Tobias is obsessed with auditioning for The Blue Man Group, so he is always putting on make-up and waiting for them to call him for his big break. Foot, or Funke, in mouth - prepare for this collage of Tobias and his oblivion:

I figure I should show you a shot of his absurdity again. This is beyond clever. Also make note of the kids names; Maebe and George Michael. Anyhow, pay close attention to Tobias again:

The last clip showcases Will Arnett as Gob (pronounced like Job from the Bible - although in one episode he is repeatedly called Gob - as in gobs of fun). This montage is really a great example of arrogance and ignorance made funny in splendidly blended combination. "Come on!":

It would appear as though I am similar to the Benedict Monks: I have taken a vow of comedy, Yes Sir! Too long, too long, too long, too long! I know, I know, I know. In order to continue watching I shall stick my fingers in my ears and say, “LA LA LA LA LA LA LA, I CAN’T HEAR YOU, LA LA LA LA LA!”

Making it this far, with any sort of attention span intact, has given you an honorary award and certificate for completion of the R.E. Knowlton III “Taking Care Of Comedic Business: Both Sides Of The Pond Review” course and will offer you discounts at many fine dining and lodging facilities in both the United States and Great Britain. Please mail 15 U.S. dollars and a S.A.S.E. to my home and I will gladly forward you on your brand spankin’ new laminated membership card, a diagram of the secret handshake, and a list of participating businesses! Thank you again for your patronage.

I promise that the next couple of posts will be shorter but I was compelled to do this. It took me a long time to get these all together and to write about them. Much like with the last post, I look forward to your comments.

If this was too long for you, I understand. Not everyone is a lifeless pile of computer lint gazing off into fantasy oblivion for hours on end like myself and for this I forgive you all. I, on the other hand, have endless lonely hours to scour the cyber world for the tasty tidbits and morsels that I have supplied here.

A promise IS a promise. You have my word; my word is my bond.

Shorter next time. Shorter. Shorter. Shorter.

I hope you will keep coming back now, ya hear …

I did not know whether or not to split this in to two parts or leave it as one big audio visual spectacular. I figure that long posts (especially ones with lengthy video clips) are not so popular, neither have been any of my game suggestions or challenges. All that being said, I decided to lump them all together and watch the post remain bereft of comments. Remember, this is supposed to be my ‘bloggy’, fun blog and I hope everyone is having fun with it. Without further adieu, the opening clip complete with theme music:

I know everyone remembers this man who was not found dead in his apartment until a neighbor called the police reporting a rotting stench four days after his demise was met. Yes, Benny Hill. The ultimate British showman. His fast witty and puny jokes made him a staple of what British television was to all of us Americans over the decades. Here is a great example of his rapid fire punch lines:

I remember being able to identify his show coming on with the Thames music with the reflection shot of the rising palace on the river Thames. My very juvenile mind would quickly go from that image to the thoughts of cheeky humour and boobs; yes, that is what I called them when I was seven and eight - boobs. Many of his non-sexual humour skits were edgy with a tinge of racism that could only be deemed acceptable then and would not even pass a think tank meeting panel now, never mind the ACLU. This would be a great example of this variant of Benny’s humour:

This would be the extent of the more well known clips that I plan on showing here. I know everyone will clamor about the lack of Monty Python’s Flying Circus but this post will remain bereft of the boys that we all know so well that we quote them incessantly; much like how I left Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street out of the kids clips that I did a few posts back (everyone knows them, so why be redundant). However, John Cleese is one of my favourite Pythons and I will always hold a place in my heart for his contributions to comedy in general. I do not think that Python was his best effort, although it was his most variant. This would be a great example of Cleese using his humour in order to hone a character that you either hate or love, but all the while you are laughing:

Yes, yes, yes, Basil Fawlty of Fawlty Towers. Such a brilliant programme! I loved every episode of this fabulous tid bit offered up via the BBC and aired on WGBH, PBS Boston and their New Hampshire affiliate channel 11. This previous clip is a lot like how my nights at the supermarket go. Que? Over and over again. Here is another great example of Manuel and his language problem that makes this show stupendous and offers a little relief from Cleese having to be center stage (as if that is a bad thing!):

If you do not think that is funny you must immediately report to the morgue and have the embalming ensue as you are most certainly dead; dead I say, dead indeed! The following clip is a fine example of Cleese being center stage and dealing with the guests and residents of his bed and breakfast. His teeth cutting sarcasm and sharp wit (not only in his performance but his writing as well) are proof positive that he will never flee far from our hearts. Please enjoy:

This would bring us away from this genre and right onto a group of actors that in someway or another we are all familiar with. The BBC was as incestuous as the Royal Family bloodline and this next set of four shows were a great example of this. Many of these actors went on to fame in the late eighties and early nineties and now appear on American television and in American films. We will begin the second part of this journey with two women that continue to wow us with satire and parody. A little poke at ABBA to start us out with:

This is Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. They crossed over and made various character appearances on other comedies that we will get to later but this is the show that got the ball rolling so to speak. Their characters revolved around children and women and still hold up well over time. Here is a great skit involving the theme 'coming of age'. Very, very humorous:

Here is another piece by the ladies where they are portraying adults trying to learn Italian and French via a tape deck with a very speedy way of teaching. To watch the facial expressions and body language of the two of them is amazing comedy styling. They really knew what they were doing. Dawn's attempts at being the know-it-all is great. Laugh, laugh, laugh:

As the two of these women were up and coming they made guest appearances on my favourite BBC programme ever. This particular show is so full of comedy that clips do not do it justice as there are endless jokes on this show. I will always love this show and I refuse to hear any argument that there was better comedy programming that ever came from anywhere. As we begin to explore this show, notice that the phone is ringing in the background to the opening of my all-time favourite episode:

Yes, The Young Ones! They took their title from the Cliff Richards' song that they cover as the opening theme. These four young men have inspired many a college student's existance as well as gave them many quotable quotes to volley back and forth at parties and study group breaks. I discovered this show when MTV still showed videos but reserved a two hour block every week night from 7 - 9 that featured the Flying Circus, Remote Control (the MTV original game show featuring Colin Quinn), and this. Here is a continuation of this episode. Make note of Rik’s killer red witch boots that became a trademark for the character (he also wore them in his big screen debut across from Phoebe Cates in ‘Drop Dead Fred’):

Bizarre puppets, switching characters, and weird subliminal messages spliced into the footage are all trademark Young Ones shtick. Excellent programme! This previous clip also features my favourite Rik play on words when he says, “I’ve told you a million times, do not exaggerate!” The epitome of funny! They even had music guests as we see in this, the third of the four clips of this episode:

Yes, that was Motor Head - ‘the’ Motor Head! We also were privileged in every episode to witness the weird political humour of Alexei Sayle as the train conductor joking about communism and big British agencies. The final clip features a couple of pleasant surprises and segues us into the next show I would like to feature. We start off with the continuation of Alexei’s humour and then we see a Rolls Royce speeding down the road on the way to challenge the boys at the challenge. When the camera goes into the car focus on the two men from the right. The first would be Hugh Lorie who is now the mega star of the show ‘House’. The second gentleman from the right is an actor that is in many American films in smaller parts; his name is Stephen Fry. An example of his big screen cross over would be his part as the geology expert in the John Travolta film ‘Civil Action’ and he was also in 'V for Vendetta'. Watch and enjoy the rest of the boys:

The other actor in this that you will recognize would be the 'Eclair Scientist' played by Robbie Coltrane who, after starring in some really bad movies, starred in the Harry Potter films (sidebar note: Stephen Fry was the narrator for the 'Goblet of Fire' installment of Harry Potter). Seeing the other two boys that have moved up in the world, leads us to their roles in another BBC programme that starred an actor that we better know for his ‘Mr. Bean’ character and his roles in movies such as ‘Rat Race’ than this role. I am speaking of Rowan Atkinson and his initial contribution to comedy that appeared in four separate installments called ‘Black Adder’. Each season of the show used the same actors in similar roles but in completely different time periods. My favourite season was the WWI season which I will show some brief clips of now. Ready? Take it in:

Hugh Lorie offers up a nice middle ground character between Rowan’s Blackadder character and Baldrick. The way Bladrick gets into his question about WWI starting is hysterical, but his little quips as Lorrie’s character talks about the Russian Revolution starting is even better. Watch and see:

One more little clip of Black Adder should round out the trio of this show but I would like to encourage you to google or youtube it and see clips from other seasons. It is one of those shows that once you get into the brand of comedy, you never really want it to end. Good thing there are four seasons/periods for viewing splendor! Here is how Rowan gets involved in a ‘secret mission’ given to him by the general, played by Stephen Fry:

This brings us full circle to a show that features two of the previous mentioned actors and an episode in three parts that I picked out more for the guest spots than I did the actual episode. From the opening credits and song, most of you will immediately know this show. It is huge and has a fanatical fan base here in America that reaches almost cult-like status. Cry, cry sweetie darling, cry, cry:

Absolutely Fabulous! Could you have picked a better name for a show about two burnt-out party girls who made it big in the British fashion industry and never abandoned their decadent self serving ways? The daughter and mother are always favourite secondary characters that make the show run smoothly and point out the absurdity of the two main characters. Here is the entrance of the mother and some of the other birthday lunch guests. You will recognize the first ex-husband as ‘Mike’ from the Young Ones:

And it just keeps getting more fabulous and absurd in this third part and conclusion of the episode. Again, this is not necessarily the most funny of all the Abs Fab (as it is called almost fan circles) episodes but it features the humour, the drugs and booze, the numerous characters and the guests that make it great. I encourage you to find other clips and view them, as there are many others that go to much further extremes to point out the partying and the materialism that was left over from the spent heads of the ‘boomer’ generation. Here is the conclusion:

Ok. I know, I know, this was far too long of a post. Many of you will only glide through and skim. Others won’t even attempt to watch the clips at all, while some of you will only watch the shorter ones. I don’t think that anyone is going to watch all of them. Cest la vie. I don’t need to watch any of them as I know most of it by heart and am available for parties if you prefer a one man show recitation of British comedies as opposed to watching BoobTube clips on your computer!

Yes, the thought even occurred to me that some people hate British humour, British accents, and over all anything that is even remotely associated with these clips. Again, cest la vie. That is how it goes. You can’t please everyone all the time. I can, however, offer the opportunity to take in some new avenues for people or just serve a hot plate of memory for those of us who love and loved these shows.

No one wanted to play Photoshop Tennis. No one wanted to even go on the 'kids show scavenger hunt'. So here I am, high upon my entertainment soap box (which for most of you is better than the old political one that I stood on for the better part of a year over at ‘young broke and republican’).

I hope everyone tried to enjoy this one or at least gave me a gratuity gander as it was time consuming to find all of these clips, write a bit about them in between showing them, as well as organizing them all out so I could easily transfer them into my posting. I do know that there is one reader in particular that will absolutely LOVE this post and for her I already have a comment clip picked out for responses to the inevitable joy she will comment with.

Again, if this was not your cup of tea (Ha! British puns!) then please come on back and check in again tomorrow. I will be putting up new posts every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday or at least trying to. It is easier to clip search on my days off rather than during the work week when I am exhausted. I already know what I am going to post next and it will be in a more American vein but humour will still be the subject.

Tune in, turn on, trip out, turn it up!

Do whatever you need to do.

I hope it includes continuing to stop by here at ‘y b r’.

(Maybe this should have been two easily digestible posts instead of a saddle up buffet.)

Till the next post …